I thought this was fairly poor, it's well written in many ways and would make a great space opera book if done with original characters but not so great as a Star Trek book. The first problem is that it simply feels like a Spock book with some DS9 aspects rammed into it rather than a coherent novel.

Moreover turning a black man into a deadbeat dad has all sorts of negative vibes attached to it, regardless of how it's dressed up in the story - something that I believe that Avery Brooks was keen to avoid in the final episode of DS9 which is why Sisko promises to return.

All in all, the wider problem is that it when read in conjunction with the more recent books, it just more dark pessimistic stuff, absolutely no trace of any light, none of the quality that attracted me to Star Trek in the first place. It's the opposite of how Craig Ferguson described Doctor Who, it's the triumph of brutality and violence over intellect and romance.